AUSTRALIA's brave decision to field four pacemen has been brutally exposed after Indian skipper MS Dhoni bludgeoned the attack to leave the tourists' first Test hopes in disarray.

On a spinning Chennai deck looking as red as planet Mars, only James Pattinson (4-89) escaped a mauling as Dhoni (206no from 243 balls) cracked the first double century of his career in a pyrotechnics show that lit up MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The tourists rolled the dice deploying four quicks and former Test batsman Damien Martyn took to Twitter to criticise the selection methodology, taking aim at Cricket Australia high-performance chief Pat Howard in the process.

"I'm sorry Australia but Test match has very quickly slipped away! I wonder how many Test matches Pat Howard played in India," said Martyn, Australia's player of the tour during their 2004-05 trip to India.

At stumps on day three, India were 8-515, a lead of 135 runs, with Dhoni, Virat Kohli (107) and Sachin Tendulkar (81) tormenting Australia's attack with a brutal fusion of hard-hitting and textbook strokeplay.

The fireworks extended beyond Dhoni's sparkling blade. Just after tea, Dhoni and rival gloveman Matt Wade exchanged words, prompting Michael Clarke's intervention, although the Australian later said there was no "spite" in the meeting of minds.

Either way, the tourists are under the pump. To have any hope of winning this Test, Australia needs its pace squadron to hunt as a pack and on the evidence of the past 48 hours, Pattinson is ostensibly flying solo.

Spinner Nathan Lyon (3-182) had a bitter-sweet day, removing Tendulkar and Kohli, only to suffer a third-session pasting as Indian skipper Dhoni went berserk.

But of greater alarm is the frontline impotence of Peter Siddle (0-61) and Mitchell Starc (0-75), who went wicketless from 47 collective overs.

The fourth seam option, debutant Moises Henriques (1-48) was also largely ineffective. Ultimately, there was consolation: a lower-order dismissal of Harbhajan Singh which gave the 26-year-old his first Test victim.

Kohli, who reached his ton from 199 balls, said the Indian camp raised eyebrows when the Australians named their starting XI with Lyon as their only recognised spinner.

"All of us were a bit surprised by that decision," he said.

"They had Xavier (Doherty) in the (squad) as well so we really thought he was going to play this game and we were really surprised to see three seamers in their squad which was a good thing for us on that wicket.

"We just decided to take advantage of that because knowing these conditions you can only have those quick-bowling spells, those bursts, for like three or four overs, not more than that.

"We had it in mind to play out those spells and capitalise on anything loose.

"All of us were really surprised with that decision (to play one spinner).

The tourists now a face a tactical conundrum. Lyon can extract more turn with each passing day, but Australia were prepared to defy convention by backing their pace quartet to run amok on a spinner's deck.

It was always going to be a boom-or-bust strategy.

Dhoni did his best to bust Australia completely. By nature, the Indian skipper is not a man of subtlety. He doesn't so much play the angles as take the angle-grinder to any attack with the temerity to take him on.

Some deliveries left his bat like a tracer bullet. Just ask Henriques, who watched one ball sail for six over long-off and nearly smash the clock in the Madras Cricket Club stand.

By the time he left the ground unbeaten, Dhoni had blasted 22 fours and five sixes and eclipsed Sunil Gavaskar (205) for the highest Test score by an Indian captain.

Wade, however, defended Australia's decision to load their attack with pace options.

"The way Dhoni batted he could have easily done it to our second spinner as well," he said.

"We certainly haven't lost any confidence in Nathan. He bowled well at times and he got hit for a few runs at times.

"He can take a lot out of that and he can come back bigger and stronger in the next innings and win the game for us.

"He would have learned a lot bowling in these conditions today."

Asked if Dhoni's knock had broken their spirits, Wade said: "Not really. We knew we were only one wicket away from breaking the game open and hopefully bowling them out.

"Everything he went for today went for six or four. He just had a day out. We tried a lot of things to him and he countered that and played really nicely.

"He backs himself from ball one ... not everyone can come out and do that."

Amid the carnage, Lyon worked overtime. The maligned tweaker may not be Shane Warne but he managed to do what the legendary leg-spinner never could in the Test arena - clean bowl Sachin Tendulkar.

The delivery was worthy of a big scalp: Lyon gave the ball enough air to lure Tendulkar, extracted turn and induced an inside-edge on the drive which clipped the 195-Test veteran's leg stump.

No other Australian spinner can claim to have bowled Tendulkar in the Test arena. Not Stuart MacGill, who once claimed him lbw. And not Warne, who had success three times, once trapping the Indian phenom lbw, twice having him caught.

How Australia still wish they had the king of spin.

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